


Trick or Treat

by The Black Sluggard (Hazgarn)



Series: Bumps in the Night [1]
Category: Castle
Genre: Adorkable, Chance Meetings, Childhood, Children, Cute, First Kiss, First Meetings, Flashback, Fluff, Ghosts, Halloween, Horror, M/M, Romance, Slash, Supernatural Elements, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-29
Updated: 2011-11-29
Packaged: 2017-10-26 17:17:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/285875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazgarn/pseuds/The%20Black%20Sluggard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new case brings back memories of a Halloween night long ago and events Javier suddenly remembers he had forgotten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trick or Treat

_"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"_  
— _Batman (1989)_  
   
It was the smell that brought it all back, of course. The smell of dampness and stale air and decay—the smell of _old_ death that didn't belong at a fresh crime scene.  
   
It hit his memory with all the damaging impact of a speeding train. His throat tightened and his head swam, and before he even realized it Javier was pushing desperately up the stairs, past the CSIs and the officers manning the perimeter. Instinct—the urgent, almost physical hunger for sunlight and fresh air—might have had him running all the way to the street, but he managed to get a grip on himself before then. He stopped, just a few feet down the hallway, letting the wall support his weight as he struggled to regain his breath.  
   
He was distantly aware of the activity going on around him, of the milling uniforms and gawkers; of Castle and Beckett and the husband of the victim, distraught over the death of his wife and his two missing daughters. Just as distantly he was glad that Kevin had been running late and wasn't there to see his partner flipping his shit over...he wasn't even sure what.  
   
Scrubbing chilled sweat from his brow, Javier made himself turn and face the door from which he'd fled, trying to pin down the source of his inexplicable terror.  
   
Running the details of their crime scene through his memory, Javier narrowed it down to that smell. Building maintenance used that basement for storage, and the janitor came in and out of there every day. It had no business smelling like that, like dead air and undisturbed rot. It was more than that, though, he was sure of it. And as he prodded at that certainty, something finally gave, like a scab coming off a wound, and suddenly Javier knew what it was that had sent him running out from that basement like a scared child.  
   
Because he was stunned to realize he'd been here before...  
   
 †‡†‡†‡†‡†‡†‡†‡†‡†  
   
 **October 31st, 1989**  
   
Javier had been glad when his mother said he could stay with his _abuela_ for Halloween. She lived in a better neighborhood, which guaranteed an overall better quality of merchandise, and it was a lot more fun than wandering the same halls he saw every day at home. Most importantly, though, she lived far enough away that he probably wouldn't run into anyone he knew. Trick-or-treating was kids' stuff, and he was _thirteen_ , so he should have been more than ready to put all that behind him...  
   
But free candy was still free candy, and the costume he'd managed to find this year was _perfect_.  
   
At the moment he was examining a Snickers, trying to determine if it was safe. He wasn't supposed to eat anything until he had someone check it out, but he really didn't understand what anyone else might see that he couldn't. It looked alright, and he was still pondering whether he could get away with it when a purple blur came barreling around the corner.  
   
The collision knocked the air out of his lungs and Javier went down in a tangle of limbs and candy and cape. His cowl had gotten twisted, and he had to straighten it again to see, and when he did Javier found himself looking up at what he realized was another boy, about his age, dressed in a Joker costume.  
   
"You haven't seen a cowgirl and a pixie, have you?" the boy asked him breathlessly, sounding a little panicked, "One about this big, the other a little smaller?"  
   
Still sitting on the ground, and still a little confused by the impact and the rush of words, Javier blinked at him vacantly. Slowly, the other boy seemed to realize and a blush crept up behind the white makeup.  
   
"Oh, hey, shoot, I'm sorry," he said, offering a hand.  
   
Javier took it, and let the boy help him to his feet. He was happy to find that the spillage wasn't as bad as he'd thought, and with the other kid's help, clean up went quickly.  
   
"So, uh, sisters?" Javier asked, once they had everything squared away. The boy blinked at him as though he'd completely forgotten.  
   
"Oh, right," he said, worry working its way back into his voice as it zinged frantically back to life. "Two of them: six and nine. I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on them—and I _was_ , but I only looked away for a second and now I can't find them and if I can't get them back before midnight my mom's gonna _kill_ me."  
   
"Where was the last place you saw them?" Javier asked.  
   
"Third floor. I think maybe they got on the elevator when I wasn't looking, because I just turned around for a second and they were gone..."  
   
"Okay," Javier said, trying to think, "Maybe if we get on the elevator, and check every floor from there we'll find them. Or maybe someone who's seen 'em?"  
   
The makeup distorted the boy's smile into something absolutely ridiculous.  
   
"Hey, yeah, that's a good idea. Thanks." He said, turning around and leaving Javier standing alone in the hall. A slow beat passed, and Javier followed.  
   
The boy didn't even seem to notice until they reached the elevator, frowning a bit self-consciously beneath the painted smile.  
   
"Uh, you don't have to help," he said, shifting his bag to the other hand as he waited for the elevator to descend.  
   
"I know," Javier said, "but you look like you need it."  
   
"Oh. Thanks," the kid said honestly as they stepped onto the elevator. Seconds ticked by and the door closed before he realized.  
   
" _Hey_!"  
   
They started their search with the third floor. When that proved unsuccessful, they flipped a coin, which left them checking the lower floors first. A ten-year-old skeleton on the second told them everything there was pretty empty, and on the first floor the security guard confirmed he hadn't seen them either—though it had cost the Joker two Twix bars and a box of Whoppers to buy his silence. They were headed back toward the elevator when Javier stopped, frowning as a flash of color caught his eye.  
   
"Hey, hold on a sec..."  
   
The first time past he'd completely missed it, but there was a narrow hall tucked away just past the elevators. At the end of the hall there was a door.  
   
"There's nothing back here," the Joker told him, "It's just the basement down there."  
   
Javier ignored him. As he got close to the door, he saw what it was that had grabbed his attention. Picking it up, he showed it to the other boy.  
   
"Ah, hell..." he moaned, shoulders slumped as he took the glittery little wand. "But that's impossible! That door's always..."  
   
Javier pushed gently on the door, watching it swing open.  
   
"...locked," the boy finished dejectedly, staring down the steps into darkness. A look of confusion crossed his face. "I don't get it, they're scared to death of the basement. Why on earth would they go down there?"  
   
"No idea," Javier said with a shrug, frowning. "Uh, maybe we should go get somebody?"  
   
The kid seemed to consider before he shook his head with determination.  
   
"Uh-uh. No way," he said, "If they're down there, I'm not waiting."  
   
For a moment, Javier considered running to get the security guy anyway, but thought better of it. He followed, keeping close. The stairs were made of cement, which was great because he thought he really would have freaked out if they'd been the kind that creaked...  
   
"Why did you bring a flashlight if you were going to be trick-or-treating inside?" Javier asked, mostly to distract him from the weird shadows bending around the light's beam.  
   
"In case of a blackout. Duh." The boy answered, as if it should have been obvious. "I like to be prepared."  
   
Javier didn't comment.  
   
They hadn't found much in the basement besides cobwebs and cleaning supplies. Then, they'd turned a corner and found a squat archway in the face of a brick wall, gaping blackly with shadows that the dim lights of the basement wouldn't quite reach. Joker-kid's flashlight had revealed a faint glint a few feet inside—what the boy was _positive_ was his sister's cowgirl gun. Javier was convinced there was still plenty of time to go up and grab the security guard, but even if he had long stopped worrying about getting in trouble, the kid wasn't about to turn back.  
   
"I can't just leave my sisters to get lost or hurt or eaten by CHUDs or something," he said frantically, "If you want to run upstairs and get him, fine, but I'm going in."  
   
Part of Javier wanted to ask the kid what a CHUD was, and most of him wanted to ask if he was out of his mind, but neither one spoke up as he followed with a muffled swear.  
   
The shadows rose up around them, accompanied by a foul, thick smell that clung sickly at the back of his throat. The ground beneath his feet was uneven, full of fractured brickwork and debris, and difficult to see with the light so far ahead of him. After stumbling for the fifth time, Javier found himself gripping the other boy's sleeve to keep himself steady as they carefully made their way through the darkness.  
   
Javier didn't know how far they'd gone, or how long they'd been moving, but when he turned around, he couldn't see the lights from the basement. His feet stopped, and he tugged the Joker-kid's sleeve to bring him to a halt.  
   
"C'mon, lets go back." He said, feeling like a total chicken as he did, but there was something about this that just wasn't right. "I don't think they're down here, and if they are we can—"  
   
"Shhhh." The other boy hissed suddenly, putting a hand over Javier's mouth. "Do you hear that?"  
   
The kid's lips hung open a little as he listened, and in the weird illumination of the flashlight the paint on his face looked absolutely ghastly. Javier heard nothing right away. But then, just as he was about to open his mouth and insist that they head back, a soft, faint sound reached his ears. And his heart sped up, because it was wrong, just _wrong_ to be hearing that sound down here.  
   
"Is someone...singing?"  
   
Javier couldn't have named what it was that made him push forward then. The boy had his sisters to think about, but there was really no reason that _he_ had to follow. But follow he did, trailing after the kid as he tracked that thin, discordant melody through the darkness.  
   
At first, he thought it was his eyes playing tricks on them, but as they continued forward, Javier saw something looming ahead of them in the dark. A flash of white that shouldn't have been there because there was no light to see by, pale and soft around the edges like the moon through thin clouds. His breath caught, and before he even realized it, his hand slid down the Joker-kid's arm, and finding his hand and the flashlight in it, flicked the light off with his thumb.  
   
The boy made a startled noise, but Javier slid his hand over his mouth pulling him closer to the wall of the tunnel with a soft hiss of warning. Without the flashlight, it was so dark that he couldn't even make out the back of the kid's head in front of him, but he found the rough surface of the wall with his hand. Creeping forward, he pushed around the other boy, moving cautiously inch-by-inch through the blackness. The other kid followed behind him, but his awareness of that was distracted by his focus on the image resolving slowly out of the shadows in front of him like a developing Polaroid.  
   
What he saw chilled his blood.  
   
The two young girls slept peacefully, curled up on the lap of a figure who sat at the center of the strange not-light by which they were visible. The head was bowed, swaying in time to the odd, repetitive song. Pale, filthy hair hung in lank tendrils obscuring his view of its face, tattered clothes hanging loose on the thin limbs that were curled around the sleeping children as its bony fingers trailed lazy paths through their blonde hair.  
   
Behind him, Javier felt their brother's hand tighten painfully on his shoulder as the boy froze in his tracks, unbreathing. Reaching up to find that hand, Javier gave it a light squeeze, tugging it gently in the direction he was headed. He felt the motion of the other boy's nod travel down his arm, and slowly they began to creep forward into the shadows.  
   
It was difficult to say at their distance from the bizarre scene in front of them when everything around it was swallowed by darkness, but Javier might have guessed they were less than the length of a bus when it happened...and it all happened at once. Javier felt the other kid tense first, heard the boy's breath catch before he felt the tug around his throat. He shifted his feet to keep his balance as the cape of his costume pulled tight, the debris turning beneath his feet to send him toppling to the ground. Sharp stone stung the skin of his palms as he caught his fall, his pained cry echoing abnormally loud in the hostile silence.  
   
And, just as the noise escaped him, he saw the figure's head jerk toward them, hollow eyes revealed beneath the curtain of hair cutting straight through the darkness to hone in on their position. A strange noise echoed through the darkness—like a stuttering gasp for air—as the horrific _thing_ stared through him, skeletal face bare of flesh, its eyes gaping holes.  
   
The creature rose slowly, letting the two girls slide gently to the floor. They didn't stir. It advanced on them with halting steps, sometimes jerky, sometimes almost fluid. Javier saw its naked jaws part, hearing that odd gasp rattle once more in the rot-spoiled air around them, and he wanted to run. He wanted to _scream_ , but it was like there was a fierce cold taking hold of him. His fingers and lips and legs felt numb, and there was a dense weight sitting in his chest, crushing the breath right out of him.  
   
And its wasted talons were only inches away when the light burned suddenly and brightly through the intervening darkness.  
   
Eyes watering, Javier caught a glimpse of skeletal fingers clawing the empty sockets of its eyes as it fled into the darkness with a dry, terrible sound more like ripping fabric than a scream. By the time his eyes cleared the creature had been swallowed completely by the lapping shadows. Turning he saw the other boy staring after it over the quaking beam of the flashlight in his hand, face white beneath white paint, eyes wide.  
   
After a few panting breaths, the boy reached out.  
   
"C'mon!" He shouted frantically, tugging Javier's cape and dragging him along behind him.  
   
Scrambling quickly over broken stonework and other litter best not thought about, they soon reached the two sleeping girls. Despite the clatter of stones and their panicked breathing, neither child moved as they drew near. Their brother reached out to shake the first one he reached, the tiny pixie with the loose blonde curls whose lips looked sickeningly blue in the dim light.  
   
"Kae? _Kae?_ C'mon, please wake up, _please_..." His words were rushed, quiet, desperate and trembling.  
   
Javier could only watch, helplessly... Then, the sound of rocks falling carried distantly out of the unknown depths of the darkness, and Javier had to shake _him_ to get his attention.  
   
"No time!" Javier shouted at the boy, moving toward the other sleeping girl. "Grab her, I'll get this one. Lets get out of here!"  
   
The boy didn't argue, lifting the smaller girl, juggling both her and his flashlight with the awkward but practiced ease of one used to carting around sleeping siblings. Javier hauled the other one, hefting her up into his arms and following behind as closely and as _quickly_ as he could. Stumbling half-blind through the dark, they made their way back the way they had come. Soon, they came in sight of the opening, the weak light nearly blinding ahead of them, the other boy's shadow struggling in front of him, silhouetted solidly against the waiting light of the basement.  
   
Javier heard another clatter out of the dark void behind him, and that odd, shuddering inhalation sounding too close— _far_ too close.  
   
Suddenly there was a sharp tug, and he felt something close tightly around his throat. His feet struggled against the shifting rubble, trying and failing to gain purchase enough to _pull—_ And he felt something tear, surging forward with renewed momentum, throat still hurting but he was free and he could _breathe_...  
   
The other boy was waiting for Javier when he emerged into the basement, flashlight aimed into the darkness, frantically searching the shadows. He kept the beam pointed squarely at it, waiting until Javier reached the stairs before he let himself back away, eyes never leaving the hungry gash of blackness they had so narrowly escaped.  
   
They reached the hallway and didn't stop running until they hit the elevator. Once the doors closed safely behind them and they finally had a chance to breathe.  
   
Javier slid down the back wall of the elevator, panting as he collapsed beneath the weight of his terror and the girl in his arms. Her brother still stood, but he was breathing very heavily, his flashlight slipping from his limp fingers. Sweat and dirt had ruined the carefully applied makeup of his costume, leaving an broken pattern of smudged white streaks. As the car began to move upward, he shifted the small girl in his arms, brushing the hair out of her face, eyes filling with an entirely different flavor of panic.  
   
"Kae?" Javier heard the boy's voice catch.  
   
He watched tensely as the boy searched her face, saw the tension relax as the girl moved slightly in his arms. He couldn't see what the boy saw, but Javier saw a faint relief in his eyes as her head turned and looked up at him.  
   
"Hey... _hey_ ," the boy whispered, "You alright?"  
   
Javier saw the curls bob as she nodded slowly, voice rising faintly in a mumble.  
   
"Sleepy..."  
   
The boy let out a faint laugh, and his eyes turned questioningly to Javier. The older girl still slept, but her color looked better. She roused slowly when Javier shook her, blinking up at him with a confused lack of recognition, and when he stood her up she almost stayed steady on her feet. As the elevator continued to climb the boy asked his sisters about what happened, but as the fuzz of sleep fell away, neither seemed to remember a thing, not about being in the basement or even how they'd gotten there.  
   
The boy had looked over their heads, then, an uncomfortable glance. Javier could easily read the question being thrown his way. He slowly shook his head. If the girls didn't remember, there wasn't much point in telling them. And if the girls didn't know, trying to explain it to any adults could only end in trouble. Javier watched the boy huff a slow breath, nodding faintly as if he understood the whole argument.  
   
When the doors opened, the boy and his sisters marched into their apartment, prepared to face the music.  
   
Taking in the condition of his clothes, the boy's mother had been distressed. Javier hung back in the entryway as her son spun a story about older kids who had taken him and his sisters for their candy. From her unsurprised sigh, she seemed to buy it. Soon she left to get the young girls in bed, telling her son to say goodnight to his friend. And it wasn't until he was being ushered out the door that Javier realized he didn't even know the kid's name.  
   
Just when he had been about to ask, Javier felt something pressed into his hand. Looking down, he saw it was the other boy's flashlight.  
   
"Just in case." The kid said to his confused look. Remembering the shriek the _thing_ had made when the light shone in its face, Javier shivered.  
   
"Look, uh, thanks." The boy continued,  "You helped save my sisters' lives—probably saved _mine_. If I'd gone down there alone...if I'd ever even _found_ them..."  
   
He trailed off, staring at Javier's face oddly, almost nervous. Then, before Javier could respond, the boy darted forward pressing a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. The he ducked back inside just as quickly, door shutting behind him with a soft click, and Javier was left standing shocked and confused in the empty hallway.  
   
It was past midnight when Javier got home. His _abuela_ began to scold him for it, but her tone softened when she took in the sorry state of him. She was sympathetic as she cleaned the scrapes on his hands, listening to the same story the boy had used about older children mugging him for his candy.  
   
He knew it wouldn't explain how late it was, though, and he had expected to be in trouble for that. So he was surprised when his _abuela_ simply smiled at his apology.  
   
"Your little clown friend," she asked him impishly, pressing a bandage over his palm, "Was she pretty?"  
   
For a few startled seconds he could only stare, wondering how she knew... Then he scrubbed his lips with the back of his hand, coming away with traces of smudged red and white paint. He blushed, feeling oddly guilty, but his _abuela_ laughed lightly.  
   
"Don't be embarrassed, _m'ijo_." She told him, "Your first kiss is something you should always remember fondly."  
   
Thankfully, she never asked him for the details.  
   
Javier's mother had come to get him the next day. In the cold light of morning, it was difficult to believe any of it had happened. A few months later, his _abuela_ had suffered a stroke, and moved in with them for the last three years of her life. Javier had never had to set foot in the building again, and as the years passed, he'd forgotten about it completely...  
   
Except for the kiss, of course. As his _abuela_ had said, he'd never quite forgotten that part—remembering it fondly, despite the awkwardness it had inspired over the years.  
   
 †‡†‡†‡†‡†‡†‡†‡†‡†  
   
Back in the present, Javier was turning the memory over in his mind.  
   
Steeling himself, Javier returned to the basement. Trying to shut out the activity surrounding the crime scene, he made an effort to see the room he was in as it would have been twenty years ago. The opening through which he and the boy had gone wasn't there, he realized, running his hand over the old brickwork on a far wall where it should have been. Brickwork that, for all its obvious age, didn't match the solid concrete of the other walls.  
   
Javier filed the detail away, uncertain how to bring it up in any way that was remotely sane.  
   
He tried to hide his discomfort the rest of that morning, unable to fully relax until they finally left. From Beckett and Castle's concerned looks as they wrapped it up, he thought he'd done a poor job.  
   
Back at the station, he'd listened with more concentration than necessary to Kevin's rant about the continuing fallout of his breakup with Jenny, and how simple retrieval of items from her apartment had somehow turned into an hour-long argument. Surrendering to the distraction gratefully, he'd managed to put the chilling recollection behind him for the rest of the day.  
   
Javier returned to the crime scene late that night, hoping to get a better look on his own. He wasn't entirely sure what he expected to find, but he preferred not having to explain why he even looking.  
   
The building was far more recognizable at night, its halls empty and quiet. Still, he managed to keep the fear that threatened to well up firmly in check. At least he did until he reached the door. But it wasn't the prospect of entering the basement that had sweat breaking out on his forehead and neck, prickling his skin painfully.  
   
It was the realization that the seal on the crime scene had already been broken.  
   
Javier drew his gun before reached for the knob, both feeling cool against his damp palms. He pushed the door open very slowly. The lights above the stairs hadn't been turned on, and except for a dim glow peeking out from the turn at the bottom of the steps, the basement was completely black. As he'd opened the door, Javier had heard a sound, echoing strangely against the complicated surfaces of pipes and walls—a banging, repetitive noise of collision. Javier pulled out his flashlight, but didn't turn it on as he moved slowly down the steps.  
   
As he descended, the banging noises became louder, and he could tell they were coming from the part of the basement where memory insisted the black opening had once stood. As soon as he rounded the corner, Javier could see the source of the light. A figure stood before the wall, illuminated by a pair of electric lanterns that sat on the floor behind it. The light of their crossed beams cast scattered shadows against the irregular surface as it moved, fluttering like black birds with each swing of the long hammer in its hands.  
   
Flicking the switch on his flashlight, Javier aimed both it and his gun at the figure.  
   
"Freeze! Drop the hammer and turn around slowly."  
   
The figure halted abruptly and complied, carefully letting the handle of the sledgehammer slip from its fingers before it turned. Startled blue eyes stared back, blinking blindly into the beam of his flashlight, and for a moment Javier couldn't move.  
   
Because the last thing he expected to see down here was his partner.  
   
Kevin's face was flushed from exertion and painted with sweat and dust, his shirtsleeves rolled up to the elbow. His tie was off—Javier realized it sat on his coat where it sat folded beside one of the lamps—and the top buttons of his shirt had been undone. His partner looked back apprehensively, hand up to shield his face from the light as he struggled to control his ragged breaths. Javier knew his partner couldn't see his face behind the glare of the flashlight in his hand, but it took him several seconds to find his voice past his shock.  
   
"Kev?" And though Kevin couldn't see him, he clearly recognized his voice, because Javier saw him relax. "What are you doing here?"  
   
His partner took a few more breaths before he answered, swiping his arm over his face as he turned back toward the wall. Javier followed.  
   
"I checked out the history of this place," he said, still breathless as he picked up the hammer again. "It was built back in the '50s using the foundations of an older building."  
   
Kevin stole a quick glance back at Javier, checking the distance between them before he took another swing against the crumbling brick.  
   
"Took me a while..." Swing. _Krak_. "I found the blueprints." Swing. _Krak_. "This wall?" Swing. _Krak_. "This wall shouldn't be here."  
   
Swing. _Krak_. Javier's throat was dry as he digested those details.  
   
"So you think it's like the Old Haunt?" He asked, drawing as close as he was able in the pool of light provided by the lamps. "A hidden basement?"  
   
Kevin shrugged loosely between swings.  
   
"You think those girls are down here?" Javier asked, cautiously speaking the thought that had lurked unvoiced in the back of his mind all day.  
   
Kevin's next swing faltered. He didn't look at Javier.  
   
"I dunno." He answered hesitantly, chest hitching unevenly from his efforts. "Maybe."  
   
"Why did you bring two hammers?" Javier asked, curious now that his eyes had adjusted to the gloom.  
   
Kevin did turn around at that.  
   
"In case one broke," he answered simply. As if it were obvious. "I like to be prepared."  
   
Javier stood there for a dumb moment in the faint light, something skittering across his memory like a spider in the dark. He dismissed it as he set down his flashlight. Stripping off his own jacket he picked up the hammer that was laid by against the wall. Kevin looked at him strangely, but said nothing as he went back to his beating. Javier stepped in carefully at his side.  
   
They worked wordlessly, timing alternating blows with a rapid, ringing rhythm, sounds echoing, swallowed by the shadows around them.  
   
Stale air. Old rot. The smell flooded them as they broke through the decaying brick.  
   
All it had taken was a weakening at a single point. After that, it all came down easily. A few hard shoves soon opened a hole large enough for them to enter. Dust flew out at them, and they took a step back, letting it settle before they grabbed up the lanterns to peer inside. The shadows seemed to retreat almost reluctantly from the light as they entered, clinging and pooling with a peculiar sense of weight. Javier found himself wishing very briefly that he had brought the hammer with him, despite the reassuring presence of the gun in his holster.  
   
Only a few steps in, Javier's foot slid on something lying in the dust. He picked it up to get a better look.  
   
"What you got?"  
   
Javier didn't answer immediately. Looking over the scalloped edge of the tattered black cloth he could feel his throat tighten, panic flaring in his chest. He let the thing drop from his fingers, wiping a drop of sweat from his chin.  
   
"Nothing." He told Kevin, taking a slow breath. "Just a rag."  
   
They had to stoop as they made their way through the dark throat of the tunnel. Javier was painfully aware of his footing with every step. The floor was littered hazardously with shifting grit and broken stone, scraps of crumbling paper and the dried corpses of rats. It opened up after several feet into a wider chamber.  
   
They found the two young girls there.  
   
They were lying on the floor in a cleared space in the center. Asleep, as far as either of them could tell, but otherwise unharmed. Between the two was a bare patch of dirt, exposed under the remnants of busted tile. The beam of their lights cast strange shadows across the uneven soil as they drew near, darkness collecting in a depression at its center. Javier went no closer than he had to to reach the sleeping girls. Still, he was sure he saw grinning teeth and gaping, empty sockets peering out from under the packed earth.  
   
Javier called for an ambulance while Kevin called Beckett. Arrangements were made to excavate the area in the morning. The two girls stirred as he and his partner carried them out of the basement. A quick examination by EMTs showed them to be slightly hypoxic, but otherwise fine.  
   
They soldiered through the commotion that followed, Beckett's questions and the media attention around the recovery of the two missing girls. Neither one of them told Kate much. Javier didn't know and they didn't discuss how they were going to explain the whole thing to Gates later, or how—if at all—it related to their murder. As long as those girls were okay he would be more than happy to figure that out in the morning.  
   
As things died down, he and Kevin were mostly left to themselves. They had been sticking close to each other ever since they left the underground, drifting farther into each others' space than was usual even for them. Javier thought he understood why, but he wondered if Kevin did. As his partner headed toward his car—wondering loudly what he was now going to do with two sledgehammers—Javier put his suspicion to the test.  
   
"Hey, Kev?"  
   
"Hm?" Kevin turned around expectantly.  
   
"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"  
   
Javier watched as confusion wrote itself across his partner's face. Then, there was a tentative recognition. More confusion flashed behind his eyes before it was cleared by a sudden blink as he finally saw the realization burst forth. Javier never gave him a chance to speak. Instead, he leaned forward, pressing a light kiss against his partner's lips. When he pulled back, Kevin's eyes were very surprised, but he didn't pull away.  
   
"I think you should come home with me tonight," Javier ventured a little nervously, voice all solemn, "It might not be safe to be alone."  
   
Javier almost succeeded in stopping the faint pull at the corner of his mouth. Kevin, for his part, blinked again in vague surprise before his mouth drew wide in a genuine smile.  
   
"Sure." Kevin said, nodding with complete understanding. He glanced down, his hand lifting to take Javier's at his side, tracing a thumb lightly across the knuckles before their eyes met again. "You know. Just in case."

 


End file.
